MOTORSPORT: The Captain conquers Daytona

Monday motorsport reportFebruary 18, 2007

Team Penske 1-2 with Dodges in Daytona 500
Roger Penske -- the man who has been the winning team owner at open-wheeler racing's biggest event, the Indianapolis 500, a record 14 times -- has now conquered NASCAR's crown jewel, the Daytona 500.

Indeed, Team Penske finished 1-2 in the Great American Race this morning, with Ryan Newman the victorious driver just a whisker ahead of Kurt Busch.

They were in Dodge cars that had been unfancied before the 50th anniversary of the Florida classic.

And four other Dodges finished in the top eight.

Chevrolets have been the dominant cars in NASCAR and the Toyotas loomed large at Daytona, but Newman and Busch dusted them on the final lap of the 4km super-speedway.

The event was a reminder of what a brilliant entertainment and TV package NASCAR is -- and what an art the racing is.

It also emphasised that not only is it important for a driver to be in a great team, but for teammates to work together.

Busch ran right up Newman's tail on the last lap, which enabled them to sweep past the Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch -- which were thought to have a horsepower advantage.

Penske, the man known as The Captain, talked only of "unbelievable teamwork" in a brief TV interview after the race.

That Penske teamwork and standard of preparation is a great omen for Australia's Ryan Briscoe as he is about to embark on a full season with that camp in the Indy Racing League -- including the Indy 500 in May.

Dale Earnhardt Junior, who had looked awesome with the mighty Hendrick Motorsports in the lead-up races during Daytona's Speed Week, finished ninth in the 500 -- one place behind Robby Gordon, the villain who denied Aussie Marcos Ambrose a victory in the second tier NASCAR series last year and who only three weeks ago switched from Ford to Dodge.

Penske's Sam Hornish, a triple IRL champion, finished 15th.

Meanwhile, talk of a merger between the IRL and the financially-crippled Champ Car series has gone strangely quiet.

While Aussie Will Power's career has stalled in that imbroglio, and the problems of Queensland tycoon Craig Gore, we can see a door opening for Power back in the A1 GP series.

He's had a run there before and we believe that the incumbent in the Australian A1 entry, John Martin, will be otherwise engaged on Formula 3 duties after this weekend's round at Durban in South Africa.

Things could just fall into place for Power, who is too good a driver to be sitting on the sidelines.

Bad start for Ambrose in Nationwide Series
Marcos Ambrose's NASCAR season got off to a woeful start in the opening round of the Nationwide Series (previously the Busch Series) at Daytona.

Starting from 33rd in his Ford Fusion, Ambrose's right rear tyre shredded on the back straight just before two-third distance, causing a caution.

The replacement tyre also punctured and damaged bodywork fell from the car in Turn 2, causing another caution on lap 97 of the 120-lap race.

Having lost a lot of laps due to two unscheduled pit stops Ambrose and his JTG Racing team pulled out and he was classified 39th.

"We scrubbed the wall just a little bit, and then cut a tyre about seven or eight laps later," Ambrose said. "We came in and fixed it and went back out, and then we lost the sheet metal.

"We did everything but crash again, came in and fixed that. Then we cut another tyre, so in the end we called it day."

Tony Stewart repelled a strong challenge from teammate Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to notch his 12th career win at Daytona -- although that dozen does not include a 500 victory.

Stewart surged to the lead on lap 117 and stayed there, while Busch blocked Earnhardt's last-ditch effort as Brian Vickers took fourth in another Toyota.

The Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota teammates led 93 laps between them.

Earnhardt's crew had to replace the rear deck lid and spoiler after his Chevy failed the pre-qualifying inspection.

"We got caught doing something everybody else is doing," Earnhardt said. "It was 3/8th-inch higher than it had been, so we're happy to be third after we got caught cheating."

Despite Ambrose's forgettable start to his third year in America there may be some good news in the wind for the dual V8 Supercar champion, who is already scheduled to do a dozen or so rounds of the premier Sprint Cup (previously Nextel Cup, and earlier the Winston Cup).

Veteran Bill Elliott has signalled that he may cut short his planned 17-race schedule in the Wood Brothers Ford that Ambrose is to step into later in the year.

"Ambrose might fall into place, or Jon Wood (grandson of one of the team's founders) might fall into place, and that would be what the Woods need to do to make the next step," said Elliott, who has won 44 Cup races, 55 pole positions and the 1988 championship, but since going part-time after the 2003 season has had just one top 10 finish -- and that was in 2004.

Villeneuve crashed the Toyota he was driving for Bill Davis Racing in last Thursday's heat race at Daytona and didn't make the field for the 500.

Mike Skinner will drive the car next weekend at California Speedway, with Johnny Benson also available if needed.

"It's a race-to-race thing," said team general manager Mike Brown. "We thought we had a sponsor for Villeneuve, down to having the uniform with the logo on it, but we never got the deal closed."

Team owner Bill Davis said: "We know Jacques has the talent and desire to be in NASCAR, and we're diligently working on a long-term relationship with him."

Mitsubishi wins Rally Tasmania with Glenney
Just a week after a 1-2 triumph in the Bathurst 12-hour production car race, and less than two weeks after announcing it is ceasing Australian car production, Mitsubishi has had another motorsport success -- in the Rally Tasmania tarmac event.

South Australia Steve Glenney, one of the great unsung talents of Australian motorsport, was fastest on 18 of the 20 stages in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

Glenney -- who because of sponsorship constraints and lack of other rallying opportunities is, in the vernacular of his other career, as a horse trainer, lightly raced -- finished 1 minute 45 seconds clear of Jim Richards in his 2007 Porsche GT3 RS.

Tony Longhurst's Subaru Impreza WRX STI was third, 3 minutes 5 seconds behind the winner.

Glenney's last outing had been the 2006 Targa Tasmania.

The Evo IX his is now driving was built by renowned Tasmanian rally entrant Les Walkden and driven last year by Alan Simonsen.

Its next outing will be this year's Targa Tasmania, again with Glenney at the wheel.

Meanwhile, the Targa organisers have split from CAMS and will stage the April 15-20 event under a permit from the rival Australian Auto Sport Alliance (AASA).

Octagon Australia has promised that aspects of the event that have concerned competitors will be eliminated under the AASA control.

The switch from CAMS reportedly has the full support of the Tasmanian Government, the Traffic Accident Authority and Tourism Tasmania.

That is ironic, considering that Targa was started by a CAMS stalwart, the late John Large.

Rallysportmag.com.au has reported that the defection will cost CAMS $300,000 in lost revenue.

"Important, too, is the realization that AASA, regarded by CAMS until this point as being irrelevant and not to be taken seriously, are now a real alternative licensing body for many different forms of motorsport in Australia, initially with motor racing and now with rallying," Rallysportmag.com.au said.

Mosley has been in the role since 1993 and his fourth term expires in October 2009.

Mosley was reported by London's Sunday Times to be intent on seeing through a series of reforms, which include capping F1 team budgets at what could be a much lower level than has previously been anticipated, and using the mechanical expertise within the sport to develop "green" technologies with applications beyond F1.

"One of the big manufacturers said if we can get the budgets down, so they are not having to spend €200m, but €50m or less, they'd be in the sport for ever," Mosley said. "But if they keep on having to spend big, they have to be winning, and clearly they can't all win."

The newspaper said cuts of that order would be regarded with alarm within the sport.

"Ferrari are believed to have spent around £215 million last season," the Sunday Times report said.

"Toyota, considered to be the top spenders, had a budget of closer to £250 million."

The paper said Mosley made it clear he will not go before "hugely exciting" new technologies have been successfully, and irreversibly, introduced into the sport.

 "I absolutely want to see KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) working, and to see a clear path to coming up with an ultra-modern high-tech engine for 2013," Mosley said.

KERS improves an engine's efficiency by storing energy lost by the car during deceleration, and releasing it when the car accelerates again.

Mosley also warned that tyres may be his next area for reform.

"Teams are supposed to reduce downforce on their cars by 50 per cent for 2009, which should make overtaking much easier," he said. "All that complex bodywork works very well in still air, but once in another car's slipstream, it doesn't work.

"But I've seen it all before, and I'm deeply suspicious the 50 per cent won't be 50 per cent when the time comes.

"But because we control the tyres, we can just reduce the grip. I can say to Bridgestone, ‘Make them harder'. If we went far enough with that, the cars would start sliding around again."

That's something lots of people would like to see, Max.

Red light on Singapore GP tickets
Chaos in Singapore last week when 70,000 tickets went on sale for the island country's first F1 grand prix -- and the sport's first night GP, on the last weekend of September.

Web and telephone systems, as did that in ticket outlets at post offices.

"Absolutely frustrating and a disgrace," said one fan.

Patrick Sim was reported in the Singapore press to have made "more than 200 phone calls" and waited on hold for up to 12 minutes, spent the day online, and even queued at a post office, trying to get tickets -- without success.

Dennis split may set a record
Ex Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's huge divorce settlement with Heather Mills may quickly be topped -- by McLaren F1 chief Ron Dennis.

Dennis, 60, the man who discovered Lewis Hamilton, has split from his American-born wife Lisa.

London's Mirror newspaper reports that she could be awarded half his £150 million fortune.

The Dennises have been married for 22 years and have three children.

London-based Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who owns the Chelsea soccer club and has at times been rumoured to be interested in an F1 involvement as he is an associate of Bernie Ecclestone, has divorced his wife Irina in Russia -- with reports on the size of the payout varying from £1 billion to £5.5 billion. 

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